But we might not have actually been discussing that.

People are taking exception to Brian’s use of the term mutually exclusive. His sentence says that there can be good stories or there can be stories that work in continuity, but there can never be a good story that works in continuity. Now, the first part of his post clearly shows that he doesn’t mean that, but it is what he typed.

Especially when you say in the same sentence that he can work continuity into the stories. IMHO, stories that fix dumb things (such as BP having the Ebony Blade) are often good stories.

Are they good stories on their own, or good because they are fixing up some ‘mistake’ from the past?

Amen. Paul O’Brien makes a good point that the stories would have worked better had they been back-up stories in the main Astonishing book. Instead, it comes off as a bad case of price gouging.

“Even MORE JEERS for the issue, for the return of the “Doctor Light is a bitch!” characterization.”

Always thought she had a ton of potential. She’s not quite my Monica Rambeu of the DCU, but I’d love to see a talented writer do good work using her character.

I’m sorry, but no way no how could Prez Luthor have been a good idea, no matter who handled it. Because it represents a supreme failure on the behalf of Superman and the whole Justice League. Bad

Actually it’s a great idea – Superman has to choose between staying true to his belief in people and democracy, knowing they’ve elected the wrong man into the position – and to people it will just look like Superman is upset because they didn ‘t vote for the guy they wanted.
Luthor is a genius, and was a hero before Superman arrived, and has gotten his way out of every criminal act – if the charges haven’t stuck, it looks like ‘the man’ is out for Luthor.
I think you’re feeling the need to bring in unnecessary continuity to get in the way of what could have been a great story. – the writers and/or editors just weren’t up to the task… and as you criticize everything they do with Superman, would you be happy with any story they told?
Any super villain still active in any way shape or form represents a mass failing on behalf of every superhero everywhere – we just accept it because it gives us a good stories.

But I disagree. While they are seperate, having one doesn’t necessarily mean you’re getting the other, but I think the use of good continuity can help make a title seem richer. It can also bog down a story too, but so far Cornell has proven himself to able to avoid those pitfalls. If you can handle the story and the continuity and make it all flow naturally and seem awesome then I say go for it. It isn’t necessary, but I applaud the man for going the extra mile.

If he wants to work in some continuity into his good stories, fine, but they’re mutually exclusive (working in continuity and writing good stories).

And without outright telling what the joke is, note that I’m referring to the fictional character Michael Bolton.

Not quite following the Bolton refrence, but everything Cornell has done with CB&MI13 has been gold. Could Cornell have gotten away with just ignoring Hudlin’s handling of the Black Knight and the Ebony Blade? Sure. But I think if he feels it’s important enough to handle then we’ll get good story out of it. And I say CHEERS to someone who wants to handle continuity and acknowleding those that came before him, even if some of it is less then good, something a lot of writers no longer do as much.

I’m with you on the “Huh?” about just leaving the guy in the alley, but (Spoiler) the point of the shot of the interior was that Dinah’s canary cry blasted a hole through the wall and shattered the ear drums of the guy living there. As he was clearly a musician (cellist), it relates back to the persistent notion in the story of how much things can change in 1.076 second. Obviously GA and BC had no idea about the collateral damage, but I’m sure there will be plenty of fallout resulting from it. Lawsuit? New sound/music-based super-villain?

JEERS to Namor’s characterization (visual and otherwise) for most of Secret Invasion: Dark Reign (although he ended up fairly well).

Again, thank you Brian! That had to be the ugliest artwork I’ve ever seen in a comic. Namor looked like some kind of terminally ill soccer hooligan, not the king of Atlantis. What the hell was Maleev thinking? Is his work always this bad?

Oh, and he apparently swiped his cruddy Namor from Robert Deniro. Check this out:

http://cableandtweed.blogspot.com/2008/12/secret-invasion-dark-swipe.html

I thought the whole issue looked like sh*t… I wouldn’t have recognized either Namor or Norman Osborne without the dialogue. Emma looked like a teenager. If Maleev’s doing any other work on Dark Reign I’m not buying it.

JEERS to this whole “Joker killing people while in police custody” routine in Batman Confidential. I think I’d be happier with it if the deaths were actually clever, but come on, talking a lady into killing herself (off panel, of course) in a minute or so? That’s not cool. And getting a lawyer to slip on a banana peel in such a way that she falls and cracks her head, killing her? The Joker’s not Bruce Banner, calculating the odds in his Hulk fights – he’s just some crazy maniac!

Thank you Brian!! This book (Bats Confidential) really, really disappoints me. I thought, after a couple of dreadful arcs, things FINALLY picked up with the Wrath arc. Then the Batgirl/Catwoman arc was a wonderful ride. Now? Back to the sh*t…

The odds of Joker getting the woman to slip on the banana peel (why wasn’t he body-searched?) and hit her head just right, and flicking that peanut just right to get to ricochet off the wall and land in the judge’s drink? Ridiculous, even for the funny books.

Worst of all, however, was a couple of issues back when Joker was in the paddy wagon. How the hell did he get out from behind the caged window and inside the cab of the wagon with the cage STILL IN PLACE? The rest of the scene played out just as ridiculously, with Joker somehow managing to free himself from his cuffs, kill the driver, and take control of the wagon all without crashing it. Crappy, sloppy writing, and equally crappy, sloppy artwork. I wish BC could maintain a consistently good tone… Something more like the early days of Legends of the Dark Knight.

Stupid me for thinking this Joker story would be any good.

However, jeers to the fact Marvel is releasing a hardcover omnibus of the Marvel Knights run, though it’s not going to be complete thanks to this newest mini series.

We had 5 years of deathly depressingly serious adult Punisher MAX and two mini-series from that era.

Maybe Ennis needed to get that out of his system and do some fun sick-humour like the Punisher War Zone.

If it’s the last punisher story from Ennis and Dillon, then best to go out with style!